


everything at once

by orphan_account



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, Gen, Lowercase, M/M, Minor Canonical Character(s), Minor Character Death, Murder Mystery, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags Contain Spoilers, currently unedited
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 20:32:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14880734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: a murderer is on the loose in a small town and there are no clues to who did it. two novices team up to solve the case...which is a lot more complicated than at first glance.





	everything at once

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to 'everything at once'! obviously, this is a hetalia fanfic. it's based on a detective au i randomly thought of, and instantly fell in love with. i decided to kickstart my first chaptered fic as a challenge - make my chapters longer, add more detail, etc.
> 
> anyways, now that you know all that pointless shit i just said, time to give you a bit of info on what this will be, and mention some stuff that i couldn't find tags for:
> 
> ➵ some gruesome and possibly upsetting descriptions of violence, dead bodies, blood, etcetera. i put it as a warning in general, but i'm just gonna emphasise it since it gets rough in the last few chapters.
> 
> ➵ this was slightly based on the irl case of jack the ripper. it's not an exact copy, but an event taking place later on is a nod to it. obviously, you don't have to know about the case to read this.
> 
> ➵ not sure if this counts as a needed warning, but i'll put it here anyways - there's an unhealthy/abusive crush established pretty early on.
> 
> ➵ i made this fic with no set date in mind - but think about 1960-1970 or something. i didn't bother looking up history since the location here is left ambiguous.
> 
> \---
> 
> aight, so the human names here are gonna be:
> 
> ꜿ nikolai trifonov - bulgaria  
> ꜿ alexandru lupei - romania
> 
> other human names in later chapters will be added in the chapter notes~

it wasn't meant to be like this. tonight was meant to be quiet and peaceful. tonight was meant to be a night where he didn't have to do anything serious. tonight was meant to be one of those nights where he closed the blinds, locked the door and stayed inside with a book, hearing the rain tap the window, a soft, calming noise while a random tv show played on in the background.

yet here he was, standing in a dark alley, drenched in rainwater, blindly following a scared-looking blonde man. he should've known that any plans he had for a half-enjoyable evening were just never going to happen.

"h-here..." the blonde muttered, eyes round. he slowed down, and stepped into the alleyway. a few people walking by shot the two curious glances and a few even craned their heads to see what the commotion was about.

nikolai's throat tightened as he walked closer to the still corpse. the man had tousled blonde hair, pale white skin, bushy eyebrows, and his grass-green eyes stared blankly into the sky, face unfazed by the heavy rain splashing onto it. nikolai flinched as he started to look for any clue, any hint of whoever had done it, any indication of the method used to kill him. his eyes followed the curve of the body's arm, and he flinched as he caught a glimpse of its arm.

"it's...it's cut off." he whispered to himself mindlessly. with a shaky breath, he drew out a notepad and a pen and started to take notes.

_the fingers are sliced off too..._ he wrote in a messy handwriting. leaning over the notepad so it wouldn't get wet, he added a few more bullet points.  _there's blood near the shoulder. a bruise on his chin. his side looks sliced. the pockets of his coat look damaged. every cut is messy._

nikolai swallowed, shoving the notepad back into his pocket. with a trembling hand he reached into the corpse's pocket as a last resort.

_there are no possible suspects. there are no clues at all._

after finding nothing, nikolai stood up and glanced at the blonde, who looked like he was on the verge of tears.

"nothing." nikolai said.

the blonde nodded, blue eyes shining in misery.

"i'm sorry. i'll try getting some eyewitnesses, but...listen. you can come to my place tomorrow, and we'll discuss what we can do, alright?" he said, trying to keep his voice steady. "get the police and tell them to collect the body. i've gotten all i could see written down."

"thank you..." he replied, blinking away tears.

nikolai watched on as the blonde walked away, and suddenly felt miserable. he loathed this feeling - watching other people experience dread and grief happened too often. it was times like these that made nikolai break into a nervous sweat. he stood in the rain a second longer, before setting off to his house again.

nikolai walked as fast as he could, and by the time he got inside the building he could hear thunder echo outside. he should've gotten an umbrella. or a raincoat. whatever. now he was fully soaked, and he felt even more melancholic than when he first walked out.

he unlocked the door, not bothering to open the lights, carelessly throwing his shoes by the door. nikolai threw his coat onto the floor and fell onto the couch, energy draining. he grabbed the thin sheet by the foot of the couch and put it over him, ignoring the fact that the sheet did nothing to shield him from the cold. truth was, he couldn't even think about the cold. the ghastly image of the fingers sliced off individually, his blank, empty eyes, his body soulless and empty.

nikolai rolled over. why did he care so much? he had worked with other murder cases. he had seen dead bodies before. he knew how they looked. he had almost gotten desensitised to it. why should this one feel any different?

nikolai closed his eyes, desperately clutching at memories of anything that wasn't the man's dead body.

* * *

knock.

pause.

knock.

nikolai thought it would go away. the person had been repeatedly knocking on his door for the past 5 minutes. surely most people would give up after a few seconds, right?

as the knocking grew louder and faster, nikolai realised that this person wouldn't give up. he sat up drowsily, and quietly made his way to the entrance.

_it's 5 in the morning. talk about respect._

with a deep sigh, nikolai opened the door.

"i found evidence. and you're the local detective around here, so i thought i'd drop in." the person said.

"wait, what-" nikolai replied, taken aback.

"arthur kirkland. the dead person you saw last night. the one with the lost fingers and stuff." he said nonchalantly, as if he was merely discussing the weather.

"i-" nikolai's hand drifted to the doorknob, but after a second of thought, he let the stranger in. maybe he was genuine. maybe he really did have something to say that could help him. it's not as if he had anything else to go by.

the stranger pulled off his dark brown coat and tied it around his waist. as he pushed back a strand of sandy-brown hair, he let out a sigh.

"i know it sounds fake. hell, i can't even believe i found it." he started.

"hold on." nikolai broke in, voice strained. "how do you even have this? i investigated the body myself. there was nothing there. what if you were in cahoots with the killer? what if you were the person that murdered him?"

the stranger's eyes gleamed with interest. it sent a shiver down nikolai's spine - his eyes were clearly brown, but they almost looked like a deep red.

"hmm. fair point. because i, the murderer of arthur kirkland, would proudly present a letter that could easily show my handwriting for investigators to see." the stranger put his hand up, as if to stop nikolai from protesting.

"that's not...okay, fine, whatever. show me what you have." nikolai huffed, still wary.

the stranger took out a paper from his pocket, and added "alexandru lupei. i live north of here. not an investigator or anything. just a devotee." he passed the folded parchment.

"alright..." nikolai stretched the paper out, already excited. he might have evidence from the beginning, and that would make his job a lot easier. clearing his throat, he started:

_"i've left the body in the alley near those defective lights. he had a lot on him - it should help you a lot. maybe for a few months. well, if you can split small shares between all of you. tell me if you need me to do anything else for you, i'm always here, my friend."_

" _love, ki~_ " alexandru finished off in a sing-song voice.

nikolai paused for a second.

"where did you find this?"

"tossed near the garbage cans there. you should really investigate the crime scene more, y'know?"

nikolai snarled. "i don't usually go around looking through garbage, but thanks for the offer."

"oh, neither do i, obviously. but you  _are_  meant to be a professional, right?" alexandru smirked. "listen. i want to help. i'm not letting this case go unsolved."

nikolai looked down, deep in thought. after a few moments, he locked eyes with alexandru.

"where were you when this happened?" he said sharply.

alexandru didn't hesitate for a second as he said, "i was at my place with a visiting friend. if you want more proof, i'll get him and we can kindly discuss it. and anyway, if i was really the murderer, why would i give obvious clues to authorities?"

nikolai stood as still as a statue. then, with a regretful glance at the other, he reached his hand out.

alexandru took it.

"nikolai trifonov. i hope we can get this solved together."

"don't hope. i know we can do it." alexandru insisted. " _i'd rather die than let the killer get away_."


End file.
